


For us all who are gathered here

by Thistlerose



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, New Year's Eve, POV Character of Color, Pre-Relationship, Shippy Gen, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 10:38:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3131498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe and Barry wait up for Iris on New Year's Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For us all who are gathered here

Joe thought it was a little strange when Barry told him he didn't have any New Year's Eve plans, but then Barry himself was a little strange - in all the best ways. He had stuff to work on, he said, important stuff for school that couldn't wait until after the break. So Joe said okay, asked him if he wanted pizza or Chinese for dinner, and whether there were any movies he wanted to rent.

"Don't you always order Chinese and watch whatever's on Turner Classics?" Barry asked with a grin, a hint of a mischievous gleam in his dark green eyes.

"Maybe I'm trying to mix it up a little," Joe said. "You know, new year, new things."

Barry laughed. It was a sound Joe had missed, even though it had only been a month since Barry was last home, for Thanksgiving weekend. "But I was looking forward to Yang's spring rolls and _Casablanca._ "

"Who am I to argue with tradition? Yang's and _Casablanca_ it is."

~*~

Barry was in his room, typing away on his laptop when Iris's friends arrived to pick her up. Joe thought that Ashlynn and Deepti looked very grownup in their glittery party dresses and strappy high-heeled sandals, though somehow still too young to be heading out so late. He told himself it was because he was a _dad_ , and all of the kids Iris grew up with would always look too young to him, Barry included. Then Iris appeared at the top of the stairs, looking coltish even in her shimmering purple dress, which fell to mid-thigh, and with her hair all done up in bouncy ringlets that had no doubt taken hours. And Joe thought, _Nope, nineteen is still pretty damn young._

But instead of sending her straight back to her room, he only said, "You look beautiful, baby. Home by one, remember? And call me if you need anything, 'cause you know I'll be up." 

She gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I know, Daddy."

"So, who's the designated driver?" He already knew - it had been part of the no drugs, no alcohol, no unprotected sex conversation they'd had earlier - but he wanted to hear her say it in front of the other girls.

" _I_ am," said Iris, rolling her eyes as she shrugged into her wool peacoat. "Cop's daughter? Remember?"

"That's my girl. Well, have a good time. Call me if you need me." He tried not to sound too emphatic.

"I _will_ ," Iris laughed. Then she shouted up the stairs, "Bye, Barry!"

"Bye," Barry called, from the direction of his room.

As the girls left, Joe heard Ashlynn say to Iris, "You couldn't talk him into coming?"

"I tried," Iris said. "I swear. Barry just doesn't like parties. You know he's kinda shy. He was like that in high school."

Ashlynn made a disappointed noise.

As he closed and locked the front door, Joe turned to glance up at Barry, who'd emerged from his room and come to sit at the top of the stairs. "Did you _want_ to go with them?" he asked.

Barry shrugged. "It's just gonna be people I knew in high school. I wasn't really good friends with any of them."

"You're really good friends with Iris," Joe pointed out.

"I know, but… Why, do you want me to go? D'you want me to keep an eye on her?"

 _Kind of,_ thought Joe, but he didn't say it. He knew there was a boy Iris liked, and the boy would probably be at this party she and her friends were heading over to. Joe didn't know much about the boy, but he trusted Iris and he figured she'd tell him when she was ready. Joe also knew that Barry had been in love with Iris since he still wore Superman footie pajamas, and he didn't want to put him in an awkward situation. Come to think of it, Barry probably knew about the boyfriend - so far as Joe knew, Iris had never kept any secrets from Barry - and that was probably the real reason he hadn't wanted to go.

So Joe said, "Nah, she'll be fine. We can just wait up for her. You're disappointing Ashlynn Sachs, though." He waggled a finger.

"In that case," Barry deadpanned, "I guess I'm going to head back to my room and contemplate my poor life choices."

God, Joe loved this kid.

~*~

Barry spent a while in his room, working on whatever project he'd been assigned over the break. He emerged when the Chinese food arrived, and joined Joe on the sofa in the living room. For the next couple of hours, they wordlessly passed cartons of lo mein and Szechuan chicken back and forth while, on the TV screen, Ingrid Bergman tried to decide between Humphrey Bogart and Paul Henreid. When the movie ended, Joe assumed that Barry would head back up to his room but, to his surprise and secret delight, the kid stuck around.

They hadn't talked much since Barry came home for winter break a week ago. Not that they'd been avoiding each other or anything, but Joe had been working a lot, and when he wasn't working it seemed like Iris was always around, and Iris - not intentionally, and certainly not obnoxiously - tended to dominate every scene whereas Barry - unless he was talking science - was more soft-spoken. This was really the first time they'd been alone together in a while.

They didn't talk now, except for a couple of short exchanges--

("You sure you don't wish you'd gone?"

"Yeah."

And,

"There's some champagne in the fridge, but I was going to wait 'til Iris gets home safe to open it."

"That's okay.")

\--but the silence was companionable. Now and then, Joe's eyes drifted from the TV - Turner Classics was apparently having a Bogart marathon, since _To Have and Have Not_ had come on next - to Barry's profile, and he felt a smile tug at his lips. Sometimes Barry noticed and returned the smile a little shyly, his shoulders hunching against the sofa cushions, but more often than not he seemed oblivious, either wrapped up in the movie or lost in thought. Probably the latter, Joe mused, stroking his beard. At any rate, it didn't look like he had any intention of going anywhere.

Hard to believe this was the same traumatized boy who'd come to live with Joe and Iris eight years ago, who'd tried so many times to run away, only to be hauled back home practically kicking and screaming. Who'd sat in sullen silence, arms folded guardedly over his heart, while counselors asked him questions about the night of his mother's murder. Hard to believe.

Joe didn't doubt for a second that Barry still thought his father was innocent; he didn't talk about it, but why else would he decide to major in Forensic Science? But at some point in those eight years he'd come to accept the Wests as family. Accept Joe, anyway. In Barry's mind, Iris was … something else.

Joe shook his head.

"What?" said Barry, sounding curious.

"Nothing, just thinking."

"I figured. What about?"

"Nothing," Joe assured him. "Just the usual dumb philosophical stuff people think on New Year's Eve."

"Okay, whatever."

Barry sounded skeptical, which struck Joe as funny - seriously, what did the kid _think_ he was thinking about on New Year's Eve - so he chuckled and reached over to ruffle Barry's hair. With a somewhat indignant "Hey!" Barry tried to duck, but he wasn't quite fast enough.

~*~

They made it to midnight like that. At about five after twelve, Iris texted to wish them a happy New Year, and to let them know she'd be home soon. "That's my girl," Joe said and texted back, _Drive safe. Idiots on the road tonight._

Barry didn't make it to twelve-fifty-four, which was when Iris finally got home. Joe heard the car pull into the driveway and felt the tension drain from his shoulders. "Hey, Barry," he said quietly to the still form curled up at the other end of the sofa. "Yo, Barry."

Barry muttered unintelligibly into the sofa cushions, but didn't open his eyes.

With an affectionate sigh, Joe gripped the arm of the sofa and pushed himself to his feet. He was in the process of tucking a crocheted afghan around Barry's shoulders when Iris came into the living room, her peacoat unbuttoned, her sandals slung over her shoulder. Joe held a finger to his lips.

"Aw, my guys waited up for me," Iris whispered, grinning. "Or tried. Happy New Year. You didn't have to, you know." Her hair, Joe noted, was a little messy: like she'd been dancing and working up a sweat, he determined, not like she'd been rolling around with some boy.

Not that he should even be thinking about such things, Joe reprimanded himself. Iris was old enough to drive, old enough to vote, old enough to make her own decisions. But she was still his little girl.

"'Course I did," he said, holding his arms out to her. "C'mere."

Iris rolled her eyes, but she dropped her sandals onto the sofa and went to give her old dad a hug. He squeezed her tight for a second or two, then pulled back so he could kiss her forehead. "Happy New Year, baby. You have a good time?"

"Yeah. It was nice seeing everyone. Barry should've come."

"And how much fun do you think he would've had?"

"I don't know. Some, probably. I mean, I know he hates to dance, but we did other things too. We played board games. We _talked_. It was nice catching up. Some of the guys went out for a midnight snowball fight. I wanted to, but I think I would've frozen." She looked over at Barry, a thoughtful smile teasing at her lips. "Maybe the three of us can go out later - if any place is open."

"Or maybe I'll cook," Joe offered. "If you and Central City can find it in your hearts to let me sleep until a decent hour. How long has it been since I made my amazing waffles?"

Iris laughed softly. "Too long. I speak for Barry too."

At that, Barry mumbled something and his lashes fluttered briefly. Iris walked over to him. Joe started to caution her, but stopped himself as Iris twisted back her long, loose her hair and, holding it against the nape of her neck, bent over the back of the sofa to brush Barry's forehead with a gentle kiss. What Barry's reaction might have been if he'd woken up just then, Joe couldn't begin to imagine. Fortunately - probably, for his own sake - he didn't so much as twitch.

"Okay," said Iris, shaking her hair out as she straightened, "I'm going to bed. Awesome waffles tomorrow? I mean today. Whenever, I'm tired."

"You got it, baby."

God, he loved this girl.

He hoped he wouldn't have to disappoint her. As he watched his daughter make her way slowly up the stairs, her sandals bouncing against her shoulder, he sent a silent plea to all the rogues of Central City: _let me have a quiet New Year's Day with my family._ He didn't think they'd listen, but hey, you never knew: impossible things were known to happen.

1/5/2015


End file.
